EDITING

EDITING — WORKING WORDS

Editing, like any work, is effort to make something better. Something that people will like more.

A manufacturer takes raw material and makes a popular product from it — a car, say, or a trusty #2 pencil. An editor takes written material and makes the best of it, getting its message as clear and compelling as possible. As a jeweler works with gold and silver, a good editor works with your words.

In the middle of a gig, a band tunes up. The lead guitarist says, “We tune because we love you.” Editing is like tuning up — it shows great respect for the people your writing targets. And that respect is always felt and appreciated. A band that never tunes will keep losing its audience. A group that makes tuning a regular part of its work has a much better chance to grow a following.

WORDS THAT MEAN BUSINESS

Good business editing lights up information for clients, and helps ensure in-house communications get read. The profit and benefits from good editing are always worth the price. Words are essential tools for a business. The better the tools are used, the more the work pays off.

CREATIVE EDITING

The best creative writing, like the best songs, comes with a voice you like listening to and meaning that keeps you interested. Whether it’s a good story, helpful information or human insight, you want details that involve you in the context — but not so many you wish it didn’t.

You don’t want to show all your vacation pictures to your friends – you choose the best ones and put them in a pleasing order. The same idea holds in creative writing. Good editing distills your wealth of material to its essence, and structures it “as you — and others! — like it.”

A good editor naturally intuits a writer’s intent. What the author is getting at gets to Robert, and alerts his admiration. That quickens his artistic sense of the work, and the structure that will ground it. After Robert’s editing, writers end up with the work they started out to create.